The Communications Academy, comprised of Television Production, Yearbook, Literary Magazine and Newspaper, represented Felix Varela at the District Six FSPA (Florida Scholastic Press Association) competition on October 21, 2011 at Florida International University (FIU).

At Districts, participants had a pamphlet from which to decide what three seminars they would go to, all of which had the intention of bettering a reporter’s skills regardless of their medium. According to Ambar Alfaro, the District Six president, there were an approximately 400 students and 20 schools in attendance. Among the presenters was Gio Benitez, a reporter for CBS4 News.

The presenting keynote speaker who opened the show was Gabe Gabor, who is deeply involved with public relations. He offered advice to the prospective future journalists through a retelling of his various successes in the public relations industry. His advice to his audience was to embrace the technological revolution that journalism was undergoing.

"I’m basically a dinosaur," he told them, earning a laugh from the crowd.

An article writing competition, the subject of which being Gabor himself, was held immediately after his presentation ended, causing competitors to scramble to gather the best notes and quotes from the speaker that they could manage. Those who were not competing went off to the various seminars FSPA had to offer.

By 2:20 that afternoon, the FSPA activities had come to an end and the closing ceremonies were held. The closing speaker was Melissa Caceres, an FIU alumnus that was once a Viper herself. She was once the Editor-in-Chief for The Viper Vibe and is now the Assistant News Director for the Beacon, FIU’s newspaper. "Journalism is an awkward teenager trying to drive a Ferrari." Caceres said of the journalism industry.

Caceres covered some of the concerns that young journalists face, one of which being the general worry that the newspaper industry is dying out due to emerging technology and the decline of newspapers.

She stated that, "stories will never die" in reference to her belief that the journalism industry is not dying but, in fact, transforming and revolutionizing itself to keep up with the computer age’s influx of new technologies.

As a guest speaker at a convention that she was once a participant of, Caceres said things meant to reassure the future journalists, particularly things that she would have liked her mentors to tell her when she was in their seat.

Awards were distributed after Caceres’ speech for the various article competitions that were held that day. Varela’s various communications branches were placed in every category. Two of Varela’s journalists placing first and second in the feature piece competition on Gabe Gabor.

Jonathan Reyes, a senior, placed first on behalf of the Vox Vipera and Claudia Morales, a junior, placed second on behalf of the Viper Vibe.